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Fiddling with the laces on his bright red personalised Nike trainers, Adam Peaty does something that is rare when he is away from the pool: he talks about swimming.

Already a three-time world champion and double world record holder, Peaty usually adheres to a simple rule when he emerges from the water. Switch off.

He drives his beloved Mercedes, listens to grime music, watches American sitcoms, plays computer games and does little to differentiate himself from the majority of other 21-year-olds.

Three months out from his first Olympic Games that is just the way he likes it.

“At home we have a rule where we don’t talk about swimming at all,” he says. “Sometimes I go downstairs and my mum and dad are watching one of my races and I tell them to switch it off.

“If I start seeing that, I can’t stop thinking about it all night which means you are losing energy where you should be gaining energy.

Peaty won three world titles last summerCredit:
ap

“When I’m training, it’s game time, but as soon as I finish a race I completely switch off. I’m a massive petrol head, I love playing computer games or just chilling out with my girlfriend. Whatever I feel I need to do, then I’ll do it.

“I’m glad I have many hobbies because it’s vital to keep your mind busy.”

It does not take long in the presence of the most promising young swimmer Britain has produced for years to determine that Peaty has the mental strength to match his substantial physical capabilities and cope with the expectation it brings.

Peaty was still a teenager and yet to claim a single world title when his local council named a Uttoxeter swimming pool in his honour after he won four European gold medals and beat his idol and reigning Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh to two Commonwealth golds in 2014.

Despite two of those events – 50m breaststroke and 4x100m mixed medley – not included in the Rio 2016 swimming programme, Peaty is favourite to win Britain’s first Olympic gold since Beijing in 2008 when he takes on Van Der Burgh over 100m breaststroke.

“I saw something the other day where someone said I would be carrying all the pressure now – I’m a triple world champion and all eyes are on me,” says Peaty, who bids to secure his Rio spot at the British Championships in Glasgow this week.

“But I don’t really see that as a problem. People say things about Olympic gold and you just have to tell them straight: ‘It’s not yours until it is physically around your neck’.

Peaty is hoping to complete his medal set at Rio 2016Credit:
ap

“I am going to respect my opponents because as soon as you think you are great and you are too arrogant, that’s when you start to lose. I have enough people around me to keep me humble.”

Chief among those are his devoted parents. Yet to move out of the family home, Peaty compares his Olympic quest to baking a cake, with his parents forming a key ingredient in the finished product. “If I move out in Olympic year, I have got too much stuff to think about like washing my clothes and cleaning,” he says with a laugh.

But behind the joviality, he retains an overwhelming desire to repay his parents for years of sacrifice.

Peaty’s mother, a nursery manager, spent years driving her teenage son to training in Derby at 4am every day, watching him for two hours and then heading to work in Stoke before completing the identical journey to training and another watching stint late in the evening.

“There is a quote I saw the other day that you don’t see the final product, you only see the gold medals wrapped around your neck,” says Peaty.

“The amount of financial effort it has taken and all the time that your parents have put in, well as cringe-worthy as it sounds the medals should be round their neck. Without their help, I wouldn’t be here.”

As he bids to etch his name in the British public's conscious forever, Peaty is certain this summer will mark the end of an era one way or another.

“I’ll definitely move out next year under any circumstance because I can’t handle it any more,” he says, smiling again. “My parents have been great but I want to start my own life. Hopefully I will have [the medal] I want around my neck.”